Little Bear

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 9, 2011264 views6 comments

Hi everyone! I'm new to the Nature Photographers community but wanted to introduce myself and share one of my favourite pictures from this summer. I'm 13 years old and live in the SW corner of Alberta, near Waterton Lakes National Park. I've been crazy about photographing wildlife and nature for a few years, so my parents bought me my first DSLR for my birthday in August. We found this adorable black bear cub this fall, and despite the crazy low light I managed to get this picture. He is SOOOO cute! It's too bad the mom wasn't posing a little better, but I like having her in the picture to tell more of the story.

I haven't had the chance to upload too many pictures to my portfolio yet, but I appreciate all your comments and suggestions as I love nature photography and want to become a better photographer.

Nikon D70s
Tamron SP 70-210 f/2.8 LD
Monopod
ISO 800 (cleaned in Topaz DeNoise)
1/250 at f/2.8
This is most of full-frame (slight crop from right and top)

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on February 9, 2011 at 5:33 AM

Welcome to NPN Jenaya. This is a great first post. The cub has great detail and the mother is also reasonably sharp. The color is very good and the eye contact of the cub is great. The only thing that would improve is to have the cub moved up in the frame so you see his feet also and have a little less head room at the top. I do think the mother adds to the image.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Walt Sterneman on February 9, 2011 at 10:28 AM

Welcome to NPN Jenaya. Nice first post. I agree with what Richard said. You did a nice job of getting the eyes of the cub in focus which is very important. Looking forward to seeing more.

Registered on March 24, 2010, 73 Posts, 1268 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on February 9, 2011 at 2:59 PM

You did a nice job processing and the capture of the cub is charming. I really like the face detail and the good light in his eyes. Fur looks nice, too. The spot on the mother's back where it is the brightest could maybe be toned down (with selective adjustments) just a little. I see you already cropped some from the right and top, which seems correct to me. In fact, ideally the camera would have been pointed even more down and left, to show the cubs feet, to give some space in front of the adult's nose and removing maybe half of the width of the tree. It is the fate of wildlife photographers to often wish for a chance of do-overs, because these decisions happen so fast! This is a very interesting and fun first post! Please jump in and participate by commenting on other images in the gallery and I am looking forward to seeing your future postings! Welcome to NPN!!

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on February 9, 2011 at 3:35 PM

Thanks for your comments everyone!
I know! I was dissapointed too that I couldn't fit his feet in the picture, but we were in the bed of our truck and my sister was standing beside me so I couldn't move around very much and still keep the camera steady against the roof of our truck.

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Ralph Kerr on February 9, 2011 at 3:37 PM

Hi Jenaya, and welcome to NPN. I agree with the others who have commented so I won't repeat here. Nice image, and enjoy your photography. I am eager to see more of your work.
Ralph Kerr
Coeur d'Alene, ID

Registered on January 30, 2007, 369 Posts, 852 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on February 9, 2011 at 8:55 PM

Thank you again. I forgot to say the mom had beautiful blonde highlights, which makes it really hard to control the highlights in the picture. I wasn't sure if I was permitted to post another picture in this thread already so I added a picture of her to my portfolio if you want to see her...it's called "Blonde Mom."

Also, can I ask a couple questions?

When posting to the portfolio, does "greater than 75%" for image crop mean that the cropped image remains at least 75% of the original, or does it mean I cropped it big-time?

Second, is the only way to get pictures in your gallery here to post in a critique forum, or is there a way to add them directly to your gallery first?

Thanks! Sorry...I'm still learning!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments